Internet Catches TV. Still Chasing Sleeping

The good news for TV broadcasters in IBM's new survey is that they still attract slightly more attention per day than the internet, by a slim 66 to 60 percent margin, among persons reporting from one to four hours per day of use. The bad news is the younger you are, the less likely you are to care about TV compared to the internet, and it's bound to be hard to sell advertising if your prime demographic will be in a graveyard soon.

In addition to conducting the new survey online, IBM researchers
stopped young people on the streets of New York to record opinions on
videotape. IBM said its informal street sample returned surprisingly
similar results to its official survey.

As one of the respondents put it in an IBM video clip now available on
YouTube, "If I had to pick between TV and the Internet at this point in
my life, I would almost always choose the Internet." When asked why, he
replied, "interactivity, for one, and No. 2, my entire life is on the
Internet."

Digital video recorders are helping to keep people watching television, with 24 percent of respondents saying they have a DVR, and that they watch at least half of all TV shows on replay. But of course they're fast-forwarding past the commercials. No rest for the weary TV executive, is there?